Genius doesn't always come in neat packages.

I cannot believe that people really sit and devote hours of their lives watching reality TV like 'Big Brother.'

For me, Test cricket at its best is all about ebb and flow of initiative, and it's always a fascinating moment of the match for me when one sides snatches it from the other.

Virender Sehwag can tear any attack apart. He is audacious, takes risks and has fantastic hand/eye co-ordination.

It is difficult to master the skill of scoring runs from a 90mph delivery that is dug into your armpit or is fizzing past your nose.

The truly great players have this advantage over the rest of the international elite, gifted though those others are: they have the ability to slow down a ball travelling at 90mph, to move before others can, to make the world adjust to their rhythm rather than the other way round.

There's little that's subtle about Hardus Viljoen - he's a broad-chested, broad-shouldered fast bowler, who simply trundles up to the wicket and hurls it down as fast as possible.

A disciplined, patient, defensive period in a Test match is not old fashioned and boring - it's essential.

Players like Alastair Cook do not come around very often. To play for so long and achieve so much says everything about his fitness, concentration, discipline and skill.

Opening the batting in Test cricket, facing up to fast bowlers looking to do their worst with a new, hard ball is incredibly tough. You have to be brave, single-minded and prepared to work very, very hard.

The old player in me can certainly sympathise with how your targets change because you simply do not know what is around the corner.

I think most cricket fans would accept that Dravid and Tendulkar are very different individuals but they are both great players.

Indian fans probably warm to Tendulkar more, because he was their darling from a very young age and he is a class above anyone else in his team. But in any other generation Dravid would be there by himself.

Preparation is not just about batting and bowling. You have to consider lots of things - the travel, the weather, the heat, the light, the sounds. You have to be comfortable with everything.

When you think of the great eight-wicket bowling figures in Test history, the names of Michael Holding, Shane Warne and Stuart Broad spring to mind.

This is Test cricket. Being positive is not far away from being reckless. For all that the sport has become more fast-flowing and entertaining, you still need batsmen whose first instinct is to be patient.

The art of coaching is to give a player freedom to bring out his talent. It is the player's responsibility for what happens once they are on the pitch.

As a player, when things are going against you, you look to the captain to inject some energy but I don't see any of that from Amla.

It is nothing new for the management of an international cricket team to wrestle with the amount of freedom afforded to players.

It is not difficult to come up with a long list of cricketers who like to have a good time - from the village green to the Test arena, it is a sociable sport.

By empowering players - not just players, but grown men - to think for themselves outside of the game, you hope that they will be more likely to adapt to a situation and seize the moment in a sporting contest.

You do not want cricketers who are cowed by adversity, waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

Word can spread quickly around the international circuit if a player is perceived to have a fault, particularly if it is against short bowling.

Pietersen is an incredibly confident cricketer, almost brash.

As lots of us ex-pros know, you are a long time retired and there comes a stage when you would give anything to be back out there playing.

In one-day internationals, the batsman is under pressure to get on with run-scoring and does not have the luxury of leaving too many deliveries.

Archer has an incredible talent. He is one of those fast bowlers who makes it look easy.

Archer has a loose-limbed approach in a run-up that is not very long. He gets into a good position at the crease and releases the ball late from a very high action. He snaps the ball down at genuine pace. He has rhythm to his bowling.

It is one thing to err on the side of caution. Equally, Test wins have to be earned. They are seldom handed to you on a plate.

Usually a captain will allow his bowler to set the field, while exercising overall control and maintaining the authority to step in if he sees fit.

Roland-Jones is a good, old-fashioned English seamer. He's not especially quick, but he pitches the ball up and swings it away, which is always dangerous.

What we have learned is that Roland-Jones is a very promising prospect. Because of the way he bowls, he will not blow batsmen away, but is more likely to take wickets through accuracy and building pressure.

On your debut, you just want to get into the game. I remember when I played my first Test, we bowled first and I went wicketless in the first innings. I felt like I was searching to make a contribution.

Test cricket is about respecting the opposition, the conditions and the circumstances.

When you are at the top, teams raise their game to play against you, breathing down your neck because they want what you have.

What you can never do on a slow pitch is bowl with any width. If you bowl straight it's almost impossible to get the ball away.

No one means to drop catches. Everyone has done it.

There is no other job in major sport like a cricket captain. It is a huge job.

As a batting captain, you do have to earn bowlers' trust, especially when it comes to fields.

A bowler should be allowed to point out to an umpire that a batsman is backing up, leaving the officials to watch what is going on.

Stuart Broad's 400th Test wicket did not come the way he would have wanted - Tom Latham chipped the ball to mid-wicket - but he will take it nonetheless. It is a fantastic achievement.

I don't think cricket will ever have the same sort of money as football.

I love winding up Geoffrey Boycott.

I fly a light aircraft.

Test cricket might seem to be slow and ponderous at times, yet it is capable of conjuring great drama from nowhere.

I always wanted to be a professional cricketer, which meant I didn't work as much as I should have done at exams. But, happily, it came off.

Without ambition, drive and the willingness to make sacrifices, I don't think you get anywhere.

I really enjoy politics.

I am not very good at putting on a front.

The absolute key difference between television and radio is the ability of radio to communicate. With television you can watch the screen and your mind can be anywhere. On radio it requires a certain amount of discipline from the listener to follow what's being said.